As I've explained many times, regardless of what individual or what circumstances they direct their criticism at, it ultimately hits the rules all (U.S.) military operate under, by law. You spit on one soldier who plays by the rules, you spit on all of them and their whole system.

I still can't agree with that statement. To me it's along the same lines as accusations that if you're republican you are automatically a racist or others statements that those who disagree with abortion are misogynist. They're questioning or harassing you directly based on whatever has transpired here in the past. I don't believe your fellow military associates are in question here, or are being attacked when people make snide remarks about you collecting disability.

isobars wrote:

Had I been WSing when the symptoms of my most immediate threat first appeared (or if and when they reappear), I would have died (will die) on the spot. Some things are worth taking risks for.

If I could only be so lucky. I would absolutely love to die windsurfing. I came pretty close once back in 2005. My physician friend and I had an interesting conversation about just that driving back from Hatteras. Watched a guy die of a stroke at Doug's beach some years back, and fought back the tears as it unfolded but was happy for him the next day sitting in Betty's for breakfast.

isobars wrote:

If you think any of their complaints merit a response, let me know. Their usual tired old schtick does not, so Iím not even going to bypass my filters to look at it.

Maybe....Pueno and Windoggie made me laugh if that merits turning off the iron curtain.

Tell ya what Iso. If I go to the Gorge this summer I'll buy you breakfast at Betty's. You can considerate it a freebie on me and a thank you for your time in the service.

You spit on one soldier who plays by the rules, you spit on all of them and their whole system.

They're questioning or harassing you directly based on whatever has transpired here in the past. I don't believe your fellow military associates are in question here, or are being attacked when people make snide remarks about you collecting disability.

They are explicitly stating that military support (i.e., noncombat) troops do not deserve compensation for disabilities incurred in service to their country if they can still windsurf, regardless of what they CANNOT do or how their disability affects the rest of their life or longevity. Others have added that no 20-year soldier/firemen/cop deserves a pension simply because he didn't work long enough. Both groups say the hell with any law or contract that says otherwise, despite benefiting from the sacrifices with every breath they take.

reinerehlers wrote:

isobars wrote:

Had I been WSing when the symptoms of my most immediate threat first appeared (or if and when they reappear), I would have died (will die) on the spot. Some things are worth taking risks for.

If I could only be so lucky. I would absolutely love to die windsurfing.

Tomorrow? in your 40s? I doubt it. But if so, do you think your wife and kids agree?

reinerehlers wrote:

isobars wrote:

If you think any of their complaints merit a response, let me know. Their usual tired old schtick does not, so Iím not even going to bypass my filters to look at it.

Maybe....Pueno and Windoggie made me laugh if that merits turning off the iron curtain.

No, thanks, for the same reason I don't watch much football on TV: ya gotta wade through too many dull games to catch the good ones.

reinerehlers wrote:

'll buy you breakfast at Betty's. You can considerate it a freebie on me and a thank you for your time in the service.

That's certainly a more adult, appreciative, and generous approach than the path these guys have chosen. The waitresses in a big restaurant told all customers one very busy day that the gentleman in the fourth booth is paying the entire family tab for all veterans in the place that day. There are whiners and there are generous people, and the latter beats the hell out of being called a welfare cheat for expecting the taxpayers to live up to their side of the contract.

There are those who serve as a result of the draft, and there are those who serve as a result of volunteering.

If you volunteered for military duty, or voluntarily accepted a civil position in the military, you knew, or should have known, what you were getting into. You weighed the risks and the benefits and felt the benefits outweighed the risks. You made a conscious decision. As a result, I feel no compunction to heap platitudes upon those who volunteered to serve.

No one buys me a meal because of my chosen vocation.

Some might say well because of the volunteers, there was no need for a draft. A draft does not bother me, I signed up when I was required but I was not drafted. A draft might make the chicken hawks think twice before sounding the drums of war as their sons or daughters might be called up to serve. Mandatory military service might not be a bad idea either.

Had I been WSing when the symptoms of my most immediate threat first appeared (or if and when they reappear), I would have died (will die) on the spot. Some things are worth taking risks for.

If I could only be so lucky. I would absolutely love to die windsurfing.

Tomorrow? in your 40s? I doubt it. But if so, do you think your wife and kids agree?

Sure, why not tomorrow or next week, this year...whenever? It beats the hell out of being told you have cancer and then killing yourself trying to fight it. NO THANKS! I've already lost really good friends to cancer and that's not the way I want to go. My friend who specializes in palliative and terminally ill seems to agree too, and he's got horrible stories coming out the ying yang.

I wouldn't expect my wife and children to be happy, but I'd think they would be happy for me if they really thought about it. I have actually shared with my family that that's the way I'd like to die, and that I find getting old is overrated. I'm not interested in slowly loosing my physical capabilities and my mental faculties....that's already slowly happening as it is and I truely miss what I've lost in the last 15 years.

On topic:
My cancer isn't even involved in my disability compensation even though its recurrence was declared by VA physicians to be clearly the VA's fault; it's a longer-term, lesser alligator than the disabilities that affect and threaten me daily, impact my WSing significantly, and prevent many ordinary activities a healthy 90-yo person can do.

Off topic, but a heads-up of use to everyone here who actually believes the "We're the government and we're here to help you" and "I'm your doctor and I'm all you need" BS:
I agree, though, that there are far better ways to go than cancer. I helped a bit with the successful push to get the WA state assisted suicide bill signed into law, have participated in formal public debates on it, file my end-of-life demands with any medical facility I use, rejected both radiation and chemical treatments as more harmful than beneficial in my case according to hundreds of peer-reviewed studies, and have publicly announced my intent to make gory headlines when and if that becomes better than living and the state refuses to humanely assist.

Many WA hospitals refuse to honor patients' advance directives/living will demands for No Heroic Measures/Do Not Resuscitate. Patients here can spend months as zombies on machines despite notarized advance directives to the contrary. That's virtually, maybe even literally, criminal, and if my local hospitals try to pull that on me, as they publicly announce is their policy, they're going to regret it. I will NOT put my wife through the Walking Dead phase of my cancer if I can help it.

After refusing treatments beyond surgery, my "battle with cancer" now consists of hard but smart exercise in the gym, too much exercise on long windy days, and eliminating starchy carbs from my diet to minimize my natural insulin levels ... the first and third being things almost everyone of every age would benefit from anyway. I'm stronger, leaner, fitter, and clinically (as measured by lab numbers) healthier than I have been in decades for both of those measures, independently suspected or proven to fight most diseases better than any of the supplements so many patients desperately pursue.

Like you imply, I've seen declines over the last several years in such factors as physical endurance, recovery times, word recall, neuromuscular function, etc., but I still impress the hell out of EVERY medical provider I encounter (they say so!), still outlast the vast majority of WSers of any age, and hope to improve my endurance and clinical numbers, including cancer markers/prognosticators, through dietary changes this season.

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